Politics

I try to live by a simple motto: when evaluating your outcomes, look for reasons to succeed, not excuses to fail.

As part of my inspiration to write this blog post, I just updated one of my websites by restoring a story on Thomas Edison and the mythical quote on his 10,000 failures to invent the electric light bulb. You'll find the link to that story at the end of this blog post, and you can read about Thomas Edison as one of the best examples of a successful state of mind

I have stayed away from social media more than usual lately because of all the negativity. The news have been dominated in recent days about people wishing for the failure of the incoming presidential administration. The world seems to be super charged with negativity. All the "not my president" memes and cartoons are getting way out of hand.

For all the years I have been eligible to vote, going back to the days of Gerald Ford, more often than not, the person who I thought was the best candidate to become president never made it out of the primaries. Along the way I have voted for many losing candidates in the general election. For all my discomfort and frustration, I have always accepted the results of the election, and supported the president in respect for our country. When a candidate I dislike has won, I have asked myself, and others, is there something I could have done to change things?

In the world of the Tao of Questy, the goal is not to take sides in an "us versus them" argument, but to stretch your brain to see things in a different perspective. To all the sore losers in politics, stop and think about this, when you lose, don’t lose the lesson. On social media I don't see many people asking the question, "Is there something I could have done to change things?" But I do see a lot of people looking for ways for the new president to fail, hoping he will fail. So much for good sportsmanship.

A recent question on social media was posed, "Why is American democracy so deeply flawed?"

It is one of those questions that deserves a quick comeback like, "Why are you so stupid?" I could think of a few more one line responses to this question, but in an effort of being nice, and respectful, I took the time to explain why this question is flawed. If you have read this blog, the Tao of Questy, this post contains themes we rant about often. In this era of post election crying, they are important themes worth repeating.

One of the remarks to the question stated, "Although American citizens have an opportunity to engage in free speech, they choose to spend their time on frivolous activities." So how does reflect as a flaw of democracy? Yes, that is exactly why democracy does not work, because people do not take the time, do not invest the effort to make it work.

From studying history in school I remember names and dates on a timeline. History is more than just memorizing a date. Throughout my life I have visited many historic sites with my family to learn more about the events associated with the famous names and dates.

What do we celebrate on the 4th of July?

What often gets lost in the celebration of the Independence Day holiday is that the battle for Independence was much more that a one day event.

Congress had voted on July 2, 1776 to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. It would not be until the Battle of Yorktown in 1781 that it appeared the states would actually gain independence as a free nation under the Articles of Confederation of 1781. The states wound not truly be united until The United States Constitution was ratified in 1788.

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The Tao of Questy is about love and laughter and being human. It's about sharing ideas and being a little bit crazy in order to stay sane.